Scenes from Sunday’s Dancing of the Giglio and Boat in Williamsburg 

By Scott Lynch

Thousands of revelers filled the streets around the Shrine Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel on Sunday for the centerpiece of the annual 12-day feast, the Dancing of the Giglio and Boat, a symbolic reenactment of an encounter that went down in 410 A.D., in the town of Nola, Italy, between Bishop Paolino, a bunch of North African pirates, and a Turkish Sultan.

Basically it goes like this (the symbolic reenactment, not the actual encounter): A group of burly men gather at one end of Havemeyer Street to lift, bounce up and down, and, spurred on by the amusingly dramatic commands of a series of capos, carry an 80-foot tall, ornately decorated, four-ton Giglio tower down the block.

Photo by Scott Lynch

At the other end of the street is the boat, ferrying this year’s honorary Turk and a bunch of confetti-tossing kids, which is carried by another group of men to meet the Giglio in front of church. Both structures also serve as platforms for entire brass bands, as well as an emcee or two who occasionally burst into song.

The whole thing lasts at least 90 minutes, and it is total, glorious chaos — the capos screaming at the spectators clogging the streets to “Get back, get back, move back, MOVE BACK,” the bands blasting away their jaunty tunes, everyone dripping sweat.

Photo by Scott Lynch

That the spectacle is a neighborhood tradition is an understatement. Since 1887, Our Lady of Mount Carmel has been hosting the annual Giglio Dance, and the feast, and for many of those in attendance on Sunday the weekend is all about reuniting with friends and family, and honoring those who came before.

“My uncle’s been doing this for decades, my cousin and I have been doing it for years now,” Frank Enrico Armano told Brooklyn Magazine before spending his afternoon lifting the boat. “My grandfather did it for decades too. And his great uncle was a capo paranza years ago, in charge of the whole thing. So that’s at least five generations.”

Photo by Scott Lynch

Armano continued: “My grandfather and his father owned Saviano and Sons Bakery right near here at the time and they donated all the bread for the quest. [Handing out loaves of bread to passersby in exchange for donations to the church.] Eventually we all moved to Middle Village, but we come back every year for our faith and our family. Just keeping up with traditions. We always see a lot of people here we don’t see that often otherwise, and, more importantly, we remember the people who came before us. My grandfather’s gone five years now almost to the day, and this is something he always did. He was a Boat guy, so this is what we do.”

Of course, there are other, non-Giglio attractions at the feast, including all the usual greasy treats (sausage and peppers, pizza, braciole, zeppole), hand-rolled cigar stands, sucker games (one of which involves smashing actual glass bottles), beverages in those colorful plastic vessels, and past-their-prime-looking rides.

Photo by Scott Lynch

The feast runs through Sunday, July 16, and there are three more lifts still to come: The Children’s Lift is on Tuesday evening, July 11; the raucous Night Lift is on Wednesday, July 12; and the old-timers Giglio dance is on Saturday, July 15.